Making Peace with Planet

Commoner's environmentalism is guided by a simple precept: ``Preventing a disease is far more efficient than treating it.'' He argues that our misdirected, costly and ineffectual effort at environmental cleanup proves that ``controlling'' pollutants doesn't work--the pollutants must be eliminated from the production process itself, at the point of origin. To this end, he recommends, for starters, solar energy, ethanol fuel for cars, electric-powered autos, a massive recycling campaign, replacement of many petrochemical products by wood, cotton, paper and other ecologically sound materials. Commoner ( The Closing Circle ) recognizes that a massive redesign of our industrial, energy, transport and agricultural systems is a formidable task. It is also, he insists, the only way to reverse the suicidal assault on the planet waged by capitalist and socialist nations alike. Visionary yet specific, his urgent essay is a blueprint of our possible future and a beacon for the environmental struggles of the '90s. (Apr.)